GSI & WWF -Environmental, Social, Governance risk assessment tool for feed ingredients
Global
What is it?
Representing approximately 40% of the global farmed salmon sector, the Global Salmon Initiative (GSI) is a leadership initiative established by leading farmed salmon CEOs from around the world who share a vision of providing a healthy and sustainable source of protein to feed a growing population, while minimizing their environmental footprint, and continuing to improve their social and economic contribution.
The WWF is an independent conservation organization active in nearly 100 countries, working to sustain the natural world for the benefit of people and wildlife.
- Transparency
- Restorative land use and biodiversity practices
- Climate footprint
- Circularity
- Pollution
- Fisheries
- Water consumption
- Fish health and nutrition
- Human nutrition and health
- Basic human rights
- Climate change impacts
- Governance
- Scalability
- Feed of the Future: Transparent and Traceable – WWF Business Case
- You can also contact GSI below.
What is it?
The Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) risk assessment tool or ESG screen for feed ingredients aims to improve the visibility of aquaculture feed supply chains, allowing stakeholders to better identify and address possible ESG risks associated with the many ingredients feed contains.
It recognizes that without knowing the composition of the feed, it is impossible to know the ESG risks that may be embedded within it.
It was developed over a three-year consultation period between GSI members, WWF, and industry feed companies.
It can also help companies assess the scalability of potential alternative or novel ingredients allowing stakeholders to make more informed sourcing decisions aligned with their strategic priorities, values, and commitments.
The tool was initially developed and trialed by WWF and Grieg Seafood and provides a standardized framework for farming companies and other aquaculture supply chain members to engage with feed manufacturers to get a holistic overview of possible risks in the feed supply chain.
As a result, it aligns the sustainability asks put to feed manufacturers, making the resulting information comparable across different companies and ingredients. It also reduces the time taken to request sustainability information by aquaculture supply chain members and feed buyers and the time taken by feed companies responding to these.
Although the tool was designed to support the salmon farming sector, other animal protein production sectors (including those of other aquaculture species groups would also benefit from its use.
The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) has also reviewed the tool and intends to incorporate it as one of its due diligence mechanisms to be part of the ASC Feed Standard certification process.
The tool is composed of the following assessment topics and is subdivided into questions associated with each of these:
To create the tool, WWF and Grieg Seafood worked closely with feed suppliers to address the lack of transparency in feed formulation. This process involved navigating complex non-disclosure agreements across a variety of stakeholders so that the appropriate feed information could be gathered while maintaining confidentiality.
They learned the following ten ingredients make up the vast majority of feed volume: beans and peas, fish meal, fish oil, guar, rapeseed oil, soybean meal, soy protein concentrate, sunflower, wheat, and wheat gluten.
The tool was originally applied to four ingredients, but after initial testing has now been expanded to nine. It will continue to be refined in collaboration with WWF, GSI, Grieg Seafood, other protein producers, and feed manufacturers to support further ESG improvements in the supply chain.
Its ultimate goal is to move from an Excel spreadsheet to a cloud-based platform to reduce any potential human error, streamline the process, and reduce the burden and redundancies for feed manufacturers.
You can learn more about the aims, development history, and future of the tool by viewing